Happiness and the “Scandinavian Model” of Living
Once again, somebody sent me the message with a link to one of those eternal articles about how the Scandinavian countries — and in this case my native Denmark — are among the happiest places on the planet.
Whatever that means.
Part of the reason why I'm not fond of these particular assertions is that it's extremely difficult to quantify and rank something like happiness.
Sure, you can ask people whether they're happy to your heart's content but what constitutes ”happy” for one person is not necessarily ”happy” for a different person. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
These tests are invariably assembled around a set of relatively fixed metrics, including standard of living, wages, healthcare, freedom, education, criminality and more and while we can certainly theorize that these things are important to most people, how important are they really?
I know I would be very happy if I lived in Denmark. But that is based on the idea that I - as an individual — am very oriented towards being quiet, not showing off, feeling safe, living a life that's pretty stable and pretty much never changes, and not having to worry excessively about the external factors around me.
My point here being that my set of metrics by which I would say ”yes, this situation in this cultural climate makes me happy” is likely to sound hella boring and hella restrictive to a lot of people in this world. Denmark would hardly be a good fit for risk takers and adventurers and pioneering non-conformists because that particular personality would not fit easily within a highly conformist culture.
That doesn't mean that anybody's wrong in this equation, it just goes back to that old truism ”different strokes for different folks.”
Although I feel relatively happy with my little sphere of influence here in the USA, there are a lot of things that are regarded highly in this country’s basic value set that frankly make me feel uncomfortable, ranging from the heavy focus on money and status to the near-obsession with owning firearms, to the somewhat broadly held belief that having social services and some kind of public ”safety net” somehow constitutes communism.
I am not against these viewpoints, by any means, they just don't happen to overlap with my own value set.
Quite often, I think people are also drawn to what they're familiar with as part of how they measure whatever it is we call ”happiness.” Maybe what we became familiar with during our formative years plays in heavily here.
In some ways, for many years I probably had less familiarity with Denmark than I had with my childhood experience of frequently moving from country to country, as a result of which what was familiar was a state of feeling almost perpetually uncomfortable, anxious and unfamiliar with my surroundings. Maybe that sounds a little bit toxic but it takes a lot of self-examination and self-inquiry to fully understand our patterns.
People have often asked me why I moved from Texas to Washington state, and the answer is — as much as anything — that I was looking for something that felt more comfortable, that felt more in alignment with what felt right… in terms of affording myself a chance at happiness, or if not outright happiness, at least a measure of comfort and less anxiety.
And I did find that here, in large part thanks to the familiar nature of both climate and geography. Western Washington feels a lot like Denmark, only with a better view!
As for happiness, I still think it's a very individual thing that can't just be distilled into a few convenient soundbytes.
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week ahead!
Comments, feedback a!nd other engagement is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
Greetings bloggers and social content creators! This article was created via PeakD, a blogging application that's part of the Hive Social Content Experience. If you're a blogger, writer, poet, artist, vlogger, musician or other creative content wizard, come join us! Hive is a little "different" because it's not run by a "company;" it operates via the consensus of its users and your content can't be banned, censored, taken down or demonetized. And that COUNTS for something, in these uncertain times! So if you're ready for the next generation of social content where YOU retain ownership and control, come by and learn about Hive and make an account!
As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly and uniquely for this platform — not posted anywhere else.
2026.09.21 01:42 PDT
1650/2916
😳 that's really amazing, good work
Thank you.
It is fascinating to realize how Scandinavian happiness revolves around peace of mind rather than being constantly stimulated. In fact, with the availability of social security systems and an emphasis on work-life balance, people in Scandinavia encounter a lot less anxiety than most other people. This makes one consider what minimum quality of life one ought to have.
I think everybody has their own impression about what feels right in their world.
Personally, I've always valued peace and quiet and harmonious relationships over excitement, adventure and conquest.
That doesn't mean I'm wrong... and it doesn't mean anybody else is wrong either, it just means that we're different. What scares me is when people have the seeming inability to embrace the idea that not everybody wants the same thing, nor to look the same way.
Indeed, I think you nailed it, happiness is so subjective as to be almost impossible to define, except maybe in those things that reduce it or cause stress.
For me it is the absence of anxiety, not the pursuit of more, or better or anything extra, I am base-line happy until something disturbs my equilibrium and pushes me out of that state.
Sometimes that push as a root from within and that's the subjective bit, but there are some externals that could contribute, like the social norms in the US you name for example.
Each of those , in my mind, increases the background stress level, I mean, do I want to live somewhere where everyone feels they must own a lethal weapon, and why do they feel that way, is there a pervading sense of fear ?...just as a simple example.
On a side note, I was in Copenhagen for a couple of days last week, loved it! :-)
I think one of the problems people often encounter is that they spend too much time examining and listening to what other people consider to be happiness and they may even follow those things even if it's to their detriment.
I think we're far better off by just sitting back and listening to our inner wisdom and determining what makes us happy, and then to let that stand independently of what anybody else thinks... even if you find yourself in the minority. Goodness knows, I've found myself in the minority plenty of times!
I'm glad you enjoyed Copenhagen! It's a lovely old city and there's plenty to explore there for an entire summer if one wanted to.
Thank you, I appreciate the support!